Planners get ready for 9/11 Memorial Walk

Planners get ready for 9/11 memorial walk
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/19/06
BY BONNIE DELANEYSTAFF WRITER
In the picnic grove at Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan, the hot dogs and burgers were on the grill, the chips were on the table and the drinks were in the coolers.

A few children romped in the grass, and the adults talked and moved from table to table.

Although it appeared to be an ordinary after-work barbecue on a warm Thursday in August, there was an undercurrent of sadness and a bit of disbelief and outrage among the group.

That morning, the news media reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had raised the terror threat level for commercial aviation to severe, or red, for all flights leaving Britain for the United States. The move came in response to the arrests of 21 people in Great Britain in connection with a terrorist plot to blow up aircrafts flying from the United Kingdom to the United States.

"It was eerie," said Betty Anne O'Malley, a Little Egg Harbor resident, who is one of a group of people planning a walk on Sept. 9 to remember Patrick "Joe" Driscoll, who was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked Sept. 11, 2001, by terrorists. The plane crashed into a remote Pennsylvania field after passengers fought the hijackers. All onboard died.

"I heard about the alert and the plans to blow up commercial flights in the morning, and I knew we were having our barbecue to finalize plans for the walk for Joe this afternoon," O'Malley said. "It brought everything back about 9/11 — the disbelief and the grief."

Driscoll's son, Patrick Driscoll of Freehold, echoed O'Malley's comments after taking a break from grilling hamburgers for the group.

"It brought back a flood of feelings. It's tragic how people want to continue to destroy us," Patrick Driscoll said. "I'm grateful they found out about the plot in time to stop it."

Patrick Driscoll was among two dozen people at the planning meeting/barbecue for The Walk With Joe, a memorial 5K walk to remember his father and the passengers of Flight 93, to be held 10 a.m. Sept. 9 at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Route 33, Manalapan.

"I'd rather focus on the walk," he said.
Now in its fifth year, the walk has "become a great day for me and my family to see my father's old friends and the people I grew up with," Driscoll said. "It's become a reunion."
O'Malley said the walk has become a living memorial to all who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. The money raised through the past four walks — more than $96,000 — was donated to charities and organizations that Driscoll had been involved with or supported, including The Samaritan Center in Manalapan, the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center, and the Christopher Gray Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of West Virginia. Money also has been donated to the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pa., as well as to local memorials.

Michael Sullivan of Long Branch, chairman of the walk, said the the Yorketowne Club is its sponsor. The club was formed by residents of the Yorketowne development in Manalapan more than 30 years ago to provide organized sports for the children in the neighborhood. Sullivan and O'Malley are former residents of Manalapan, as was the Driscoll family.

Joe Driscoll, 70, and his wife, Maureen, lived in Manalapan for 35 years, and had moved to Point Pleasant Beach while waiting for their new home in Manchester to be built when the tragedy occurred. Driscoll died on the flight that was to take him to Yosemite National Park in California for his annual hiking trip.

"After Joe died, a few of us (members of the Yorketowne Club) were sitting around and decided we wanted to do something to give comfort to his family, so we organized the walk," Sullivan said. "Our logo is "We Will Not Forget.' "
Sullivan said that last year's walk drew 800 people. Many were those whom
Driscoll had coached in sports or taught catechism to at St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church in Manalapan, he said.
"We couldn't let it go and do nothing. It was like it had happened to our own family," O'Malley said. "It was such a dastardly deed that when it hit this close to home we had to show this family (the Driscolls) how much we all cared.
"To many people who walk, Joe was their coach, their mentor, their friend," she said. "The walk has become something spiritual and uplifting."

Registration will take place at the reception area in the overlook section of the park, she said. At 10 a.m., opening ceremonies will begin, and they will include a blessing by Father John Bambrick, pastor at St. Thomas Moore; an American Legion honor guard, bagpiper Dennis Donovan of the state police Fife and Drum Corps, local DJ Lee Deedmyer, and the Battleground Barbershop Chorus, of which Joe Driscoll was a member.

All who register by Sept. 1 will receive a T-shirt, and those who register at the event will receive one while supplies last.
Bonnie Delaney: (732) 643-4218 or bdelaney@app.com